Saenz should know. For most of his 32 years, he has had his hands in the dirt, getting geraniums, begonias, marigolds and countless other growing things to spring to life.

And for much of that time, he has been coming to the Farmers Market in Muskegon.

"I'd guess we've been going there for at least 15 to 20 years," he said. "I remember going there when I was young."

Mike Saenz represents the second generation of his family in the growing business, following in the footsteps of his father, Amando Saenz.

"He came out here to Sparta in 1968 and bought a piece of land," Mike Saenz said. "He had worked with another greenhouse for 25 years. A couple years later -- that would make it 1970 or '71 -- he started his own."

So Mike Saenz came by his love for the earth honestly. "I'm the youngest son so I grew up on the farm," he said.

As customers who have purchased from Saenz Farms and Greenhouse will testify, the business specializes in diversity. "We grow annuals, vegetables, all kinds of perennials," Saenz said. "We have hundreds of different varieties."

Customers find much of that variety on display at the Saenz retail center, 12656 Pine Island N.E. in Sparta.

But often that variety comes to Muskegon as well. The Farmers Market particularly "is a great place for us at the end of the season," Mike Saenz said, when not all the plants have sold.

Muskegon is one of two markets Saenz visits, Mike Saenz said. The other is in Trufant, a small, unincorporated community in southwestern Montcalm County, about 15 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Saenz is a regular presence in Trufant on Thursday and in Muskegon on Saturday.

"Local people who go to the market look for us," Mike Saenz said.

When he took over the business as owner two-and-a-half years ago, Mike Saenz said he discovered just how deeply such relationships run. "People would say, 'I'm looking for those yellow trucks, I'm looking for you guys.'"

Saenz Farms brings vegetables for display as well as annuals and perennials, Mike Saenz said. They include seed potatoes, onions and even grapevines.